Belle Vernon nets OT winner to beat West Mifflin in WPIAL playoff opener

By: Liam Belan
Thursday, October 17, 2024 | 11:52 PM

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It took 104 minutes to decide a winner at “The Beach” at James Weir Stadium in Thursday night’s WPIAL Class 3A playoff qualifier between No. 16 Belle Vernon and No. 17 West Mifflin, but after a hard-fought battle between two evenly matched teams, the Leopards claimed a 2-1 win in double overtime.

The score stood at 1-1 deep into the second half of extra time when Trevor Kovatch found space and put a ball in that was met by Anthony Sawa, who ended the match with a shot that deflected off a West Mifflin defender and into the back of the net.

The win pushed Belle Vernon (8-9) into the final playoff spot as it will travel to take on No. 1 Moon at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“It was exciting, especially for Anthony Sawa, who’s had some injuries and everything,” Belle Vernon coach Al Yeschenko said. “It was great for him to come out and get a win, especially because he went out early in the game and we weren’t sure if he was gonna return. So, it was really nice to see him get that.

“It took 15 guys today to get it done because defensively, I thought we kept the ball from coming out of their half, and we possessed it well. Our midfielders worked hard and every position on the field worked to keep the possession and to keep them running back and forth.”

The loss was a devastating one for the Titans (3-13), who saw their season come to an end.

“It’s always tough because you get emotional with your players, especially your seniors, because their careers are just just done,” West Mifflin coach Chad Perry said. “They competed really well. Some of them have been staples of our program. Our center back Jason Martin, he’s a four-year starter, and keeper Hayden Craycraft is a big part of this program. It’s just very unfortunate for everyone.”

Cooper Hilligsberg opened the scoring on an assist from Bryson Kincaid before the Leopards fired back through Jackson Pressel to tie it. That goal was assisted by Brandon Yeschenko.

The first attacking promise of the match came from the Leopards as Kovatch went streaking down the right wing three and a half minutes in. He got the better of his defender and put in a dangerous cross that was just touched away before Sawa could reach it. It instead leaked to Yeschenko, who was able to offer up another dangerous cross that went unclaimed thanks to good defending from the Titans. Martin shielded a Belle Vernon attacker from reaching the pass as it rolled harmlessly out of play for a goal kick.

The Leopards continued to keep the ball and looked to put pressure on the West Mifflin backline, but Martin stood tall and thwarted several chances.

With 24 minutes left, the next opportunity fell to West Mifflin after an effective counter.

The Titans advanced the ball before a pass was squared to Santiago Martinez-Lopes from 18 yards out, and he hit a strong shot that was saved well by Belle Vernon’s Bryce Burkhart. Then, a minute later, a long WM free kick was flicked onto the post by a Titan who was deemed to be offside. The close call came to nothing, but it added some suspense to what was a one-sided match up to that point.

Both sides went back and forth for the majority of the first half, but it was the Titans that countered well again and this time opened the scoring with 23 seconds remaining in the half.

Belle Vernon was caught undermanned at the back, and Hilligsberg made an intelligent run right into the space behind them. The key was the pass from Kincaid, which was timed perfectly so that Hilligsberg stayed onside and weighted right so that Burkhart couldn’t come out to claim it.

The pass left the forward one-on-one with Burkhart, and while the keeper got a piece of it, Hilligsberg hit it hard enough that it rolled over the outstretched leg of Burkhart and into the back of the net to make it 1-0. That ended the action in the first half with the Titans leading.

Belle Vernon opened the second half with momentum as the Leopards came out hungry for an equalizer. Yeschenko had the main threat six minutes in as he unleashed a missile that just swerved wide of the top right corner of the net and instead went wide.

Landon Bell similarly missed just high on a long-distance shot moments later as Belle Vernon was fighting for its season.

Then, with 26:55 remaining in the match, the home Leopards finally got their breakthrough.

It started with Yeschenko, who was calm on the ball all through the match. Standing just outside of the 18-yard box on the right side, he surveyed his options and chose Kovatch, who smartly played it back to him in space.

The one-two beat Yeschenko’s defender and put him into space in the box. He slipped an inviting cross through the 6-yard box, and it was Pressel who claimed it and tapped it home to make it 1-1.

Four minutes later, Kovatch did his thing and beat two defenders before firing a shot that Craycraft just did enough to stop. It was a scramble to clear the ball, and in the process, it looked like a Leopard may have been brought down with a push in the box, but the center ref saw it and waved it off to keep play going.

West Mifflin kept at it, though, and almost regained the lead with 14 minutes to play.

A corner was headed by Cameron Morris towards goal and whistled just over the crossbar to keep the score tied before the Leopards came close a few minutes later.

Again, Kovatch beat his defender and put a cross in that wasn’t cleared and reached Sawa, who hit a hard shot that Craycraft was just able to punch over the crossbar to keep the match tied.

Craycraft made a few more saves before the second half came to an end, but the third match of the season between the two sides was destined for more suspense in extra time.

Right when extra time started, Craycraft was called on for two more saves, but play settled down for a little bit before Burkhart saved the Leopards with a big save on a shot off a West Mifflin free kick.

Bell put a shot on target with a minute and a half left, but Craycraft claimed it as it was the last chance of the first half of extra time.

Kovatch had the first offering on goal in the second half of extra time, but it was saved once again by Craycraft as the Leopards were in full control of possession.

West Mifflin could barely get a touch on the ball as Belle Vernon continued to attack and drew several corner kicks. Finally, with just over six minutes left, the Leopards won the match with Sawa’s goal.

Moving forward, Belle Vernon will have a quick turnaround after the emotional win before taking on a dominant Moon (18-0) team Saturday.

“It was big for the seniors to get their last win at home with it being an emotional win,” Yeschenko said. “We’ve been talking about ways that we could be successful as a team and we’re just starting to show it in the second half of the season where we’ve had much more success in the second half than we did in the first half of the season. So, I think that it’s gonna give them a positive to go out there and play well against Moon.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, West Mifflin